


When an Alternate Universe gives you a lesson, make use of it.

by DelicatePoem



Series: Swan Queen Week Winter 2017: Alternate Universes Cubed [6]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: 3b, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Day 6, F/F, Implied/Referenced Accident, Swan Queen Week, Swan Queen Week Winter 2017, Trapped In An AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 11:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9655331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DelicatePoem/pseuds/DelicatePoem
Summary: Emma touches something she isn't supposed to while waiting for another lesson in Regina's vault. She's sent to an alternate universe where no happy endings were found, and lots of years have passed since she apparently didn't come to Storybrooke on that fateful night. Henry's much older and Regina has suffered an accident.Or, the one where it takes a melancholic different reality for Emma to get some courage and admit her feelings to Regina, who is still mad over her bringing Marian back.Canon divergence from Season 3B.Swan Queen Week: Day 6 - Trapped in an AU





	

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, I want to thank you guys for all the amazing responses I got from "The Woman From My Dreams". I'll try to bring some more chapters to it!
> 
> I also want to apologize for my delay. As I mentioned before, I take quite some time to write things, so being late gets even later because of it. Without further ado, my contribution for the sixth day!
> 
> (Will be posting the last day soon).  
> Happy reading!

One split second she was waiting for Regina within her vault for magic lessons (why was Regina late, she was never late for these things, damn it!) and the other she was standing on the middle of Storybrooke’s Main Street for some reason. Emma was dumbfounded, but shrugged in resignation and set out in the direction of the cemetery again. Maybe her magic had acted out…? Or it had something to do with her not following Regina primary rule: “Miss Swan, please do refrain from touching anything at the vault. Not even if I’m there.” Oops.

She might’ve touched a peculiar box.

Or two.

It was when she was walking down the street that she noticed all the stares. Usually, people were subtler (they still looked whenever she was around anyway, being the Savior brought that sort of unwanted attention) but they were scrutinizing her—as if they didn’t recognize who she were, as if she were a stranger. And now that she took it into consideration, she’d just whisked by the clock and it was stuck at 8:15. Her magic had felt restrained since she ‘poofed’ and—

“Oh,” Emma collided into someone. Great.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” a voice Emma heard everyday said. She took a step back to see that it was her mother, who didn’t seem to recognize her too.

“Mary Margaret?” Emma ignored the apology, fully disconcerted.

“Yes… Have we met before?” Mary Margaret asked, attempting to bring out a far-away memory, tilting her head to the side.

“No, um… Never mind. Bye!” Emma couldn’t deal with it. So she circled around Snow-not-Snow and didn’t look over her shoulder as she left.

What to do, what to do? Was she hallucinating? Did the box she touched do something to mess up with her brain? She pinched herself and nothing happened. _Well, at least I’m not dreaming… Wait, how would I know? This shit doesn’t work, probably._ She scoffed.

Emma decided to head towards the mansion in the end; maybe there’d have some answers. Regina would.

 _This feels like cursed Storybrooke,_ she reflected. _Did I just go back in time?_

Ten minutes later or so, she arrived at 108 Mifflin Street. It was all the same, but not — the grass wasn’t as green; the bushes had seen better days, as the house in a whole. It had a cold, dark aura surrounding it, one that hadn’t been there for some time now. Not since Henry got his memories back and been over at the mansion every odd week. Not since Emma understood what it meant when her heart beat faster whenever Regina was around—this wasn’t often: the brunette was being extremely distant. In fact, it was a miracle she even agreed to continue the lessons. Of course, upon condition that Emma didn’t mention Robin Hood or attempted to apologize again for the whole Marian debacle. 

Gulping down the feeling of dread that came up unrequested, Emma trudged up the pathway, and as deliberately as she could, used the fancy door knocker. She waited and waited and nobody answered it. She tried again—this time she rang the doorbell. When the blonde was about to give in, she heard the lock being turned.

The door opened swiftly, and she swore she heard a muttering along the lines of “oh, I thought I had imagined the sound” when brunette hair was the first thing she saw, but brushed it off. What made her pause was when she really realized _who_ was in front of her. Not Regina: it was Henry.

A much older Henry—taller than her, too. A young man.

“Can I help you?” he asked in a deep voice.

“Hi, yes, I’m Emma Swan—”

Henry seemed to lose his balance for a second, “Emma Swan?”

“Yes?”

A third voice rang out, “ _Henry? Who’s at the door?_ ”

“Mom! Mom, come here—I mean… I’ll help you, just a sec! It’s _her_ , mom!” Henry cried back enthusiastically, losing all manner of composure.

Meanwhile, Emma stayed still and watched in a mixture of amusement and bewilderment as the scene unfolded.

“ _What? What do you mean?_ ” Regina’s voice rang out from somewhere inside the house.

He looked at Emma and said, “Please, do come in. My mom’s at her study, since she can’t walk really well without her mechanic leg. We weren’t really expecting company. I’ll—I’ll explain it later, I guess...” he scratched his beard (where did that come from?), “…just refrain yourself from commenting about it, it makes her really sad.” He finished in a low-tone right before they got inside the room.

There within was Regina, who had gotten up with some effort and was now using the help of crutches to stay upright. It was a startling sight: Regina Mills without her right leg. Wearing one of her memorable dresses – a blue one that fit her like a glove, hugging all of her delicious curves, down to a single olive colored thigh. She was still gorgeous. Emma couldn’t pinpoint if she’d ever seen this specific assemble before, but shrugged inwardly—no time for such inquiries.

“Son, did I hear it right? Emma Swan? Is she really…” Regina moved closer.

“Yes, I think so,” his voice cracked, eyes brimming with tears.

“Um, could you guys explain to me what is happening?” the blonde asked, looking from one person to the other.

“Oh, yes,” Regina shook her head, removing herself from her trance, “I believe Henry was just finishing cooking some pasta for dinner, would you care to accompany us to the kitchen for a second?”

“Of course, sure.”

Emma and Henry gave space for Regina to brush past them in her crutches. It seemed as if she’d been doing this for a while, because she was fast in her movement.

As the three of them made their way to the kitchen, the older woman continued, “I’m Regina Mills, but you probably already knew that, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, um, that’s actually why I’m here—”

“And this is Henry, as you might know by now,” Regina interrupted. From what Emma was seeing, the mayor was nervous, but quite excited if you knew her as well as Emma did.

Henry picked up his mother without much effort as she put the crutches aside and sat her on the stool from the island counter. He then got to the stove, turned it on and started stirring something, which smelt really great. Regina, on the other hand, became silent, stiffly staring at her hands placed on top of the counter.

Emma was missing something, some sort of clue, maybe. Why was Henry so old—a full-grown teenager already? Why wasn’t Regina freaking out and demanding her to leave? Why didn’t she have a whole leg? And most importantly, why did they apparently know her name?

“You could join us for dinner,” Regina timidly asked, breaking the silence. _What? What’s happening here? Since when does she get shy all of a sudden?_ “We do have a lot to talk about.”

Emma cleared her throat. “Okaaaay…” she thought for a second on how to say this, “…so before we start, I already know about the curse.” About being subtle? Not her forte.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard it right, Regina. So drop the pleasantries and tell me why do you two obviously know my name and who I am—why are you receiving me with open arms?”

Regina got so shaken up Henry decided to talk instead, still fussing over dinner. “We tried to find you. Every year, on October 22nd. It’s become a tradition since after my eleventh birthday, when Mom told me about the curse. She promised me we’d find you. By then, the twenty-eight mark had already passed, and the curse didn’t break.” Henry took a deep breath, turning off the stove and checking over the oven. “The years passed, but still we couldn’t find you. I had forgiven Mom already, but… She can’t forgive herself. She tries every year to make me leave her here and go somewhere, travel, see other places… But I still always held on to hope. And I was right, see Mom?” He smiled briefly at her, while putting oven mitts to remove the chicken.

“We repeat the same days, over and over again. No one remembers me; it’s been two years since I was in school and their memories have got all fuzzy again. So yeah, that’s basically it.”

Emma wanted to cry, just like Regina was right now—silent tears rolling down her cheeks, which she was rapidly brushing away. Imagine living all these days again, and again. Imagine living… what? How many years had been? “H-How… How many years have passed since my twenty-eighth birthday, Henry?”

“Ten years,” he whispered with his back to her.

Emma did the simple math. Henry was twenty. And it had been ten years since Henry didn’t find her. _Is this some of that weird alternative universe stuff that should only happen in movies?_

“How come you know about the curse, Miss Swan?” Regina finally crocked out.

“Well, you see… I’m not from this reality.”

“ _What?_ ” both Mills’ cried out.

“I-I think I’m in another dimension, an alternate version of sorts. That’s the only explanation I…” she paused. “See, I was in the other Regina’s vault, waiting for magic lessons, but I touched a box and suddenly poof,” she made an explosion with her hands, “here I am, yeah.”

“Wait a second. Magic? You have magic?” Henry said excitedly. He sounded so much like a kid again, Emma couldn’t help but smile.

“Henry, let’s not get off track.” Regina chided. “You haven’t come to break the curse, then,” she stated dejectedly.

“Not exactly…” an idea already forming in Emma’s mind, “but I could surely find your Emma. Finding people is what I used to do,” she confidently proposed.

“Really? You’d do that for us?” Regina was so hopeful, as if it’d been a long time since someone showed her that amount of kindness. And maybe it had been. This only solidified Emma’s plan. She must’ve ended up here purposely. And she was going to find the other Emma and set things in motion if it was the last thing she did—this family looked so… sad, forlorn.

[SQ]

Two days passed before she was able to locate the other Emma with the help of her trusty programs. During that time, she’d been asked a hundred questions—both from Regina and Henry.

“You mentioned you and me—well, the other me, were having magic lessons. Are we any close?”

“How’s magic like?”

“Am I… happy?”

“Do I have friends?”

Emma couldn’t refuse to answer even if she tried to, her heart breaking from these questions. This was making her feel depressed already. Not to mention it was weird that the first time she’d slept on the mansion was being on an alternate reality.

While she’d been searching away the day before on a slightly old computer, Henry decided to tell her how his mom didn’t have a leg—Regina was in the study at the time, reading.

“When I was ten, after I knocked on your door and you weren’t there, I became more reckless once I returned home. I’d stay hours on end searching away for any proof that the curse was real. Mom was scared and sorrowful, but I didn’t care at that time, I chose not to see it. I only saw the Evil Queen, or… the Mayor hidden behind a mask.

“She knew I wouldn’t try to leave town again, not yet anyway, because she’d told me what could’ve happened to me – she’d at least managed to scare me into not attempting such a feat.” He’d paused, gathering his thoughts. “One day, I’d gone too far… I’d always use her skeleton keys, which I’d found once snooping around her office, to open different places. I hid myself inside the abandoned library below the clock tower. I stayed there the whole day, but when night fell it started pouring. Like, really pouring down. So I remained inside the library. And Mom kept looking for me, at the storm.”

A tear had fell from his eye, and more followed. Emma had waited patiently, already dreading (but imagining) how this story was going to end.

“She lost control of her Mercedes and hit a car that was thankfully parked, with no one inside it, but the accident was severe. Her right leg got crushed… I think this makes her sad not just because she lost her leg, but because I had to deal with it for all these years. She told me about the curse after I turned eleven. By then, I was so guilty I’d dropped all notions of a curse existing. She made me believe again, and encouraged me to find you.”

Emma had cried, oh, how she’d cried. She’d sobbed, thinking of how things could’ve turned out in _her_ reality. This alternate universe was a bitch.

She was glad she’d finally found her counterpart now, two days later since she first arrived. The other Emma Swan was back in Boston, actually, after several years of jumping around, never staying too long on the same place, never growing roots. Like her a couple of years ago. This version's Emma was living on the same building as she’d been when Henry had found her.

And now Henry was off to find his birth mother, while Emma remained in the house to keep Regina company—to keep her from worrying (too much).

“So, does Storybrooke look any different there?”

“Well, from what I’ve seen here, it looks the same… I mean, back when it was cursed. The… cold feel to it, you know? The clock that doesn’t move, time frozen and all… Storybrooke is so much livelier without the curse.”

Regina hung to Emma’s every word like a lifeline, brows furrowed in thought. The blonde supposed she hadn’t sincerely spoken to someone besides Henry for some time now. Oh god, this was making Emma dizzy. She couldn’t fathom living like this.

She was missing home. She missed her parents. She missed _her_ Henry and _her_ Regina. Not hers per se, but… This all made Emma realize that life—everything could turn in the blink of an eye. It made her confident enough to want to try and mend their relationship once she got back. Emma wouldn’t lose Regina. In more ways than one.

So caught in her introspection, she was startled when this version’s Regina touched her arm. “Miss Swan? Why are you…? You’re disappearing.”

“What?” Emma glanced down and yes, she was turning transparent. But instead of becoming worried, she grinned. “I think my job’s done!” she laughed happily. “The other Emma will be here soon, and things will work out, I’m sure. Tell Henry that.”

The last thing she saw before she was transported was Regina wiping a tear, eyes bright with hope.

[SQ]

‘Poofing’ around was terrible. She lost all sense of equilibrium at first, but when she regained it, Emma beamed, eyes crinkling with happiness. She couldn’t help but laugh—she was back inside the vault.

Her movement apparently alerted someone, for a demanding voice spoke from another part of the vault. “Who’s there?”

She wouldn’t admit she ran to encounter the owner of the voice. _Regina._

“Emma?” it had been ages since the blonde sheriff had been called by her first name from Regina. It felt amazing. “Is that really you—where have you been?”

Emma didn’t notice what Regina had been doing: researching on location spells and all sorts of crazy theories. No, she didn’t notice how the brunette grinned, got up and walked closer—no crutches. All Emma could do was to meet her halfway there; throwing herself at Regina and being brave for once.

With her hands placed gently on each cheek of the dark-haired woman, she firmly kissed her, trying to transmit every emotion through it: joy, happiness, relief, and so many others; but, most importantly, love. It took some time for Regina to respond. When she did, the metaphorical fireworks erupted, everything seemed brighter, nothing else mattered but them.

When air became a necessity, they parted ways with one more peck, noses brushing together in a dance of longtime lovers—as if they’d done that a thousand times before.

“What was that for?” Regina breathed out. “Not that I’m complaining, but…”

“Regina, I… I was in a different reality and quite frankly? It was horrible. I’ll tell you more about it later, but the important thing is that I learned I shouldn’t hold myself back, because life can throw us a curve-ball at any moment, at any time…” Emma caressed her cheek, gazing into brown pools lovingly. “I missed you. And I’m not talking about these last few days. I’m talking about ever since I brought Marian back.” Regina gave her a look which said ‘I don’t really want to talk about it’. “I know, trust me, I know. I’m sorry about the pain I’ve caused you because of it, but you know I can’t regret what I’ve done. I saved a life. I ultimately undid the damage the Evil Queen brought upon someone. I saved you, in some sort of way?” Emma shook her head, arranging her monologue. “I want us to go back to… almost friends? Or… maybe something else? Would that be okay?”

Regina’s response was to kiss her again passionately. “I missed you too, I’m sorry,” she mumbled between kisses.

Guess alternate universes could come in handy after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm over at Tumblr by the same name: delicatepoem. Feel free to pop by!  
> If there are any blatant mistakes, let me know and I'll be sure to correct it.
> 
> Don't forget to leave a comment below, and if you enjoyed it, kudos make my day! ;)


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